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When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity During the Last Days of Rome
 
 
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When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity During the Last Days of Rome (Paperback)

by Richard E. Rubenstein (Author), Michelle Brook (Editor) "BY THE TIME the men at the front of the mob smashed through the prison gates, the crowd had grown until it overflowed the square..." (more)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Mariner Books (Aug 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0156013150
  • ISBN-13: 978-0156013154
  • Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 13 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 29,681 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #30 in  Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Church History
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BY THE TIME the men at the front of the mob smashed through the prison gates, the crowd had grown until it overflowed the square like water pouring over the sides of a full jar. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

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87 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent study of Christian doctrine and conflict, 15 Jul 2000
By A Customer
I can't think of many other books about religious history that would justify 5 stars. What is different about this one is that it is written by a sociologist (specifically an expert in conflict resolution) who combines a very readable journalistic style with occasional penetrating insights into the psychology of the parties to the Arian-vs-Athananasian (ie. Unitarian-vs-Trinitarian) dispute of the 4th Century. The book starts off in pot-boiler style with a lynch mob of Athanasian Christians breaking into a jail to murder the bishop of Alexandria but quickly settles down into more scholarly mode.

It helps that the writer is Jewish, and therefore above the inevitable bias that (albeit unconciously) affects most other accounts of early church history. Nor is he squeamish about showing Christians poisoning and murdering each other - events which some historians seem to think insignificant relative to the doctrinal debate. It is particularly interesting to read Rubenstein's comments in the concluding chapters on how changes in the social (and military) situation of the Empire after the death of Constantine led to changing emotional needs among Christians - and this as much as the bully boy tactics of the Athanasians was an major reason why Jesus went from being "Son of God" ante-Nicaea to "God the Son" a generation later.

Rubenstein does not of course offer an overview of the development of Christian doctrine per se (for which see the standard work: The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God by R.P.C. Hanson) nor any analysis of the influence of pagan Egyptian theology on the development of the Trinity (see Triads and Trinity by J. Gwyn Griffiths).

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book to understand people, not Jesus!, 26 Aug 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight Over Christ's Divinity in the Last Days of Rome (Hardcover)
Written with a grace of style that makes this book hard to put down, When Jesus Became God is far more than a mere history of Christology. The question that drives Rubenstein's story is why would essentially reasonable people who share a belief in the divinity of Jesus turn to open conflict, dehumanization of their opponents and violence in support of their point of view concerning the exact nature of Christ's divinity? His chronicling of the Arian-Athanasian controversy is an engaging history that explores these questions: Why did the contestants believe that toleration of serious religious differences seems grossly negligent? What about the contest prompted the contestants to move from attempts at persuasion to attempts to defeat the other side? How and why was the contest really resolved?

Anyone who reads this book to answer questions of the essential nature of Christ's divinity will be disappointed for Rubenstein's story is not a theological disputation. Anyone who wonders why those of us who are less than divine are willing to take up arms in defense of the truth as we see it will be fascinated and enlightened by this book. Read it!

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57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating insight into the construction of Christianity, 12 Jan 2007
This is an excellent and scholarly introduction to the ideological debates of the fourth century. After Diocletian had revived Roman power, almost every Emperor decided that the Empire needed an an offical ideology the only problem being few could agree what it was to be. Diocletian himself preferred a revived paganism focused on the cult of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun. He chose to persecute Christianity yet to no real effect. Constantine reversed his policy, adopting Christianity and shunning paganism, however he himself had little idea of the divisions within Christianity. To his annoyance, the ascent to power of Christian Bishops only caused schisms between the followers of Arius and those of the Nicene creed that was eventually to emerge triumphant, not before Constantine's successor Constius had backed Arius and his successor Julian willed a return to paganism.
At first the differences between the Arian and Nicene creed can appear trivial but Rubenstein does a terrific job of explaining the real issues that lay beneath them and how people use interpretations of mythology to engage in important philosophical debates. The extreme Arian position was that Christ was divine but he had become divine. It was dangerous philosphy to many of the Bishops that espoused the Nicine creed as it suggested that other ordinary people could become divine. They prefered the image of Christ as a perfect example that ordinary people could never live up to as it was an icon they could wield to justify their own power. It helps to explain Christianity as human construct and how it developed such self hating ideologies as the original sin.
It also helps explain the European penchant for constructing strict ideologies that they insist on inflicting onto other people. The 4th century deabtes in Christianity were reamrkable similar to the 19th and 20th century debates in Communism complete with splits and denouncements of the opposition. Eventually in the 4th century it was the threat of barbarian invasions that forced the Romans into unity. Its interesting that the decline and fall of the Empire in the West created Christianity, the creed that defined European civilization for another 1500 years.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Arian Controversy Brought to Life
How do you take an abstruse, emotive and pivotal theological controversy that occurred in the early years of Christianity and turn it into a fast-paced, factual story without... Read more
Published 17 months ago by A. O. AKEMU

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting history
If you have ever asked if religous history can be exciting then suggest this book "When Jesus Became God: The Controversy That Split Christianity During the Last Days of Rome. Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2007 by "Smith" Reader

4.0 out of 5 stars scholarly and readable
For a long time, there has been a need for book like this - giving the unholy facts about the early era of turmoil in Christian belief. Read more
Published on 25 April 2000 by brencoff

5.0 out of 5 stars what would jesus do?
I have read much on this subject, but this book is an excellent synthesis of the events in their historical context. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've read in a long long time
It takes genius to make such cerebral material not only comprehensible but gripping to a Kansas housewife (such as myself). One of the best books I've read in a long, long time.
Published on 31 Aug 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Rubenstein writes well
Rubenstein writes elegantly about the politics and turmoil in the declining days of the Roman empire, of which the Arian controversy was just one small part. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping, fascinating history with contemporary relevance
When Jesus Became God illuminated an era for me. Rubenstein managed to convey an epic struggle, both between paganism and Christianity, and within Christianity. Read more
Published on 26 Aug 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Prose of cinematic vividness
Writing prose of cinematic vividness, Rubenstein is able to make the most abstruse theological debates of Christianity's first millennium come alive--and render them... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 1999

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